GeForce GT 310 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which features core clock speeds of 772 MHz on the GPU, and 1002 MHz on the 3072 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 512 SPUs along with 64 Texture Address Units and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 213 Watts (687%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB, in theory, should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 310 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 176384 (1102%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB will be much (more or less 949%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 44696 (949%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB will be much (about 1473%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce GT 310, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 34700 (1473%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.